San Martín Caltenco

Caltenco joins calli, house, tentli, edge, and co, place: "houses at the edge". This village of the municipality of Tochtepec had 5,598 people in 2020 and lies at about 2,010 m in the centre of the state, some 44 km in a straight line from the capital; the photo shows its centre on Avenida 5 de Mayo. Its patron is Saint Martin.

Tochtepec, "on the hill of rabbits", was an established community by at least the year 1000, and in the late 12th century it was conquered by the Toltec-Chichimecs; its people were called tochtepeuas and the first settlement lay at the foot of the hill now called Cristo Rey. It has been a municipality since 1895 and covers about 102 km². It borders Santo Tomás Hueyotlipan, Huitziltepec, Tepeyahualco de Cuauhtémoc, Tlanepantla, Xochitlán Todos Santos and Tecamachalco.

It is one of the most agricultural municipalities in the area: 70% of its land is farmed, mainly alfalfa, maize, tomatoes and beans, with poultry and dairy. The rest is scrub. The climate is mild and fairly dry, averaging 16 to 18 °C with 600 to 700 mm of rain. Craftspeople carve stone and work bone and leather, and also make musical instruments. On the table: mole poblano, pipián, bean and fresh-corn tamales and mutton mixiotes, with pulque, aguamiel and granillo atole.